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About Board and Fraud

Board and Fraud is a blog that aims to bring a practical approach to issues facing the board of directors and the audit committee specifically in the area of governance, risk management, compliance, and internal audit, with a strong focus on fraud, ethics, and internal controls.

Enterprise Resiliency Model Released

In July 2020, The Institute of Internal Auditors (“IIA”) updated its Three Lines of Defense Model (“Model”) to emphasize more active forms of risk management and governance that appear to go beyond merely defensive maneuvers made by the internal audit function.  

Some believed the old model sent a message that we should fear risk. I never saw it that way. I understood the subliminal message was the model was about achieving objectives, which requires both the creation and the protection of value. The new model does a much better job of confirming that risk management contributes “to achieving objectives and creating value, as well as to matters of “defense” and protecting value.”

Learn why the Enterprise Risk Resilient Model might be a better choice.

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Whistleblowers: A Fraud Triage System to Manage Burgeoning Caseloads

As the use of whistleblower programs continues to grow, many organizations find themselves struggling to manage burgeoning caseloads. As a result, serious fraud investigations can be delayed (with mounting losses) while less consequential complaints are being investigated. The lack of a timely, systematic and repeatable process for evaluating and prioritizing whistleblower tips that contain allegations of ethical breaches can also expose an organization to increased regulatory risk.

While there is no single, “right” method for following up on whistleblower complaints, the most effective approaches often resemble the medical triage programs that hospitals and first responders use to allocate limited resources during emergencies, or a crisis situation.

Here are some useful guidelines for designing and implementing a fraud triage system.

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Fraud, Compliance & Integrity Risk During a Crisis and a Downturn

As a crisis unfolds, like Coronavirus, and markets decline globally, fraudsters will be adapting and new risks will emerge and some risks will increase. 

Remember, white collar criminals adapt by profiling us, so they can exploit our weaknesses. That being said, companies need to develop a strategy that enables the deployment of appropriate tactics to manage these new or increasing risks.

This writing explores some fraud, compliance, and integrity risks and is intended to provoke discussion.

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IIA Philadelphia and Baker Tilly’s Fraud & Ethics Symposium is Postponed! Stay tuned for the new date.

This one-day fraud symposium, sponsored by Baker Tilly’s Global Forensic, Compliance and Integrity Services, and Solutions Practice Group and hosted by the Institute of Internal Auditors, Philadelphia Chapter, will include topics such as:

•Culture
•Current trends in white-collar crime
•Tone is the middle
•Policy management
•Case study on a local fraud

Discover who will be speaking and register for the event!

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Speaking and Training on Fraud, Compliance, Ethics, and More…

Welcome to my site. I have spoken and been the keynote speaker for many conferences, including the ABA, ACC, ACFE, IIA, and IMA to name a few. I have designed customized training for the board, senior leadership, legal, compliance, internal audit, and others for some of the world’s largest organizations.

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Reputation Risk Management Doesn’t Have a Start or End Date!

How can we protect our brand? What are we doing to protect our brand? Questions all board members should be constantly asking.  Reputational risks can damage the most well-crafted business strategies and is a growing challenge that companies around the world are still learning how to manage.

By definition, reputational risk refers to the potential for negative publicity, public perception, or uncontrollable events to adversely impact a company’s reputation, thereby affecting its revenue.

Board directors covet their company’s reputation because it’s their most valuable asset. A study by Deloitte and Forbes affirmed this conviction, but should not surprise anyone.  Senior-level executives also agreed that their company’s reputation presented the greatest risk to the company’s ability to achieve business strategies.

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Baker Tilly’s 2019 Effective Governance and Compliance Roundtable Series – May 1, 2019 – CPE Event in Philadelphia -Using Continuous Auditing and Monitoring in the Fight Against Fraud

Organizations are under increasing scrutiny regarding ethical lapses and allegations of fraud. Fiscal year 2018 was a record-breaking year for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program, as more and more individuals have been coming forward with allegations of impropriety. Come learn how to use continuous auditing and monitoring in the fight against fraud – or help improve your compliance program!

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Fraud Tip Friday: Small Dollars, Big Problems

Last week, a Transit supervisor and five others were charged in connection with a scheme to steal over $2 million from the agency. The kicker: the payments were under the limit of $5,000 – roughly speaking, that’s over 400 payments!

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Combating Fraud Through Effective Internal Controls

“Fraud is not an accounting problem; it is a social phenomenon.” Joe Wells

Most companies will not readily admit that their organizations may be vulnerable to fraud.
According to the 2020 Report to the Nations published by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (“ACFE”), which contains an analysis of approximately 2,500 cases of occupational fraud that were investigated between January 2018 and September 2019, organizations lose 5% of their annual revenues to fraud. While this number is only a general estimate based on the opinion, it represents the collective observations of anti-fraud experts who together have investigated hundreds of thousands of fraud cases. Based on the ACFE’s study, the median loss caused by frauds was $125,000, with 21.0% of the cases resulting in losses of at least $1 million.

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Corporate Governance – Commonsense Principles 2.0

Corporate governance is the collection of systems and processes that an organization has in place to prevent or dissuade potentially self-interested persons from engaging in activities detrimental to the welfare of shareholders and stakeholders and helps to promote better overall decision making.

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Jonathan T. Marks, CPA, CFF, CFE

Partner, Firm Practice Leader – Global Fraud & Forensic Investigations, Compliance, & Integrity Services

Jonathan T. Marks is the original author and producer of Board and Fraud. He specializes in global and complex corporate investigations (White Collar Crime) and other investigations. He has 30+ years of experience working closely with clients, their board, audit committees, senior management, internal audit, compliance, legal & outside law firms on global and domestic fraud, misconduct, cyber incidents, bribery, money laundering, whistleblowers, retaliation matters, and conducting investigations when appropriate (10A, books and records, cross-border, FCPA, regulatory etc.). Jonathan determines economic damages, performs root cause analysis, develops remedial procedures, and designs and enhances governance, global risk management and compliance systems along with internal controls and policies and procedures. He also monitors tactics to mitigate future potential issues and testifies in the court-of-law when called upon. 

To learn more about what Jonathan T. Marks, or the Global Fraud and Forensic Investigation team and their services, select the button below.

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Baker Tilly US, LLP, trading as Baker Tilly, is a member of the global network of Baker Tilly International Ltd., the members of which are separate and independent legal entities. ©2022 Baker Tilly US, LLP

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